Port Moresby ‘filthiest Pacific city’
From correspondents in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
28apr05
PORT Moresby is the filthiest city in the Pacific and needs to rid itself of discarded plastic shopping bags, says Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare.
The prime minister was responding to a question in parliament this week about the government’s ban on plastic shopping bags from June to curb a major littering problem throughout the country.
People should take traditional woven string bilums when shopping instead of using plastic bags supplied by shops, Mr Somare told the house.
,“Port Moresby is a filthy city of plastics” he said.
The national capital was full of other rubbish as well as graffiti which was not seen in rural villages, Mr Somare said.
“Out of all cities in this country, Port Moresby is the worst city, the filthiest city in all of the Pacific.”
All citizens should take pride in the nation’s capital and take responsibility for keeping it clean, Mr Somare said.
Any breach of the government’s plastic bag ban will count as an offence under the Environment Act 2000.
But major retailers have complained the government had not given them sufficient notice of the ban or recommended alternatives to help businesses plan for a changeover to biodegradable packing materials.